NZ balloon crash kills 11

Updated
January 07, 2012 09:59:00

A hot air balloon crash in the New Zealand town of Carterton has killed all 11 people on board. Witness Don Cunningham says he heard the passengers screaming shortly before it crashed in a field near his home.

EMILY BOURKE: To New Zealand this morning, where 11 people have died in a hot air balloon crash.

The balloon came down after 7 o'clock local time near the small town of Carterton north of Wellington, killing all on board.

Police, fire and ambulance are at the scene which is close to the Clareville showgrounds.

Details are still sketchy, but here are reports that the balloon is owned by the director of Ballooning New Zealand, Lance Hopping. It's not known whether Mr Hopping was on board.

Local resident Don Cunningham is speaking to Adam Harvey.

DON CUNNIGHAM: This morning I heard the balloon take off at its normal time, around about 6.40am, because it takes off from behind my house, and then I was walking the dog in the field and by the Paua Shell Factory from where the balloon takes off from and I could see the balloon up in the sky.

And it was a perfect day for ballooning, there was very little wind and it wasn't too hot, the heat was just starting to come up. I could then hear the burners, but I couldn't see the balloon, so I was looking for the balloon, and I could just see the top of it descending in what looked like a controlled descent behind the trees just on the back of the field and I thought nothing of it.

But then I heard some screaming and shouting and saw a large plume of black smoke. So I ran up, I was walking the dog so I ran him up onto the road, and went down the road towards the main road, which is where the balloon had gone, and I could hear the volunteer fire fighters siren go off.

And then the two Carterton fire trucks came racing up the road followed by a police car which, I knew then there was people involved and it wasn't good, and then another fire truck and another police car and then another fire truck and then the ambulance.

And the guys got to the fire pretty quick because the black smoke turned to white, so they had water on the fire, but I couldn't see it because it was beyond some trees, beyond the Taratahi Hotel, so I couldn't actually see the blaze and I didn't go over there. I came home.

ADAM HARVEY: Was there anything in the area for it to hit? Do you think the balloon might have made contact with something?

DON CUNNIGHAM: Not where it was because, you know, there's plenty of power lines and stuff but it's just farm land. And the guy who flies the balloon, if it was the normal guy, he's incredibly experienced, he's been up every day this week so far. So he's an incredibly experienced pilot and he's from this area, he knows this area so, you know, he wasn't low enough to hit anything.

ADAM HARVEY: Is there only one balloon operation in the area or is it an area where lots of people go ballooning?

DON CUNNIGHAM: There's two balloons operators in the area. This one's sort of really the only commercial one - and then Willie Sun's (phonetic) got a balloon down in Lincoln Road - but this guy who takes off from the Paua Shell Factory, he operates pretty much all the time.

ADAM HARVEY: And is it something that people come from other areas from New Zealand, that tourists come to do, or it is something that locals do?

DON CUNNIGHAM: It's more, not just locals, it's a - during working time it's quite a corporate thing, you know, corporates take their people up in the balloon. He's got three balloons of different sizes. So today it looked like the big green one, so that was his biggest balloon. But he's got a balloon that only takes three or four people.

So it's normally sort of people from within the Wellington area. I don't know if it's that big a tourist thing, I'm not sure. It's not, you know, it's marketed through the eyesight here, but I don't see it marketed sort of internationally or anything.

ADAM HARVEY: Don, which operator do you think was involved in this crash?

DON CUNNIGHAM: It's the guy that always flies from the back of the Paua Shell Factory, so he's, I think that's his address, I'm not sure of the name of the company, I just know the balloons.

ADAM HARVEY: But he's a very experienced pilot?

DON CUNNIGHAM: Absolutely, I've lived here nearly three years and he would fly on average twice a week even during the winter.

ADAM HARVEY: It must be an awful shock for you to have heard this and seen the aftermath of the crash?

DON CUNNIGHAM: It's really sad knowing that it's locals, you know. And for it to be that many people it's quite stunning and it's not good at all.